Complexity, Nationalism and
Political Theory
How complexity permits ethnic nationalists and
multiculturalists to rub along together
Eric Kaufmann, Birkbeck College, University of London
e.kaufmann@bbk.ac.uk
The Communitarian Challenge
• Starting point is Rawls' Theory of
Justice (1971)
• Idea of 'archimedean point': a
universal perspective on ethics
free of particularity of place and
time
• Communitarians critique it from
mid-70s: Alasdair MacIntyre,
Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor
and Michael Walzer
• Charge that ethics must be
implemented in the concrete
social reality of this world, not an
abstract one
Deeper Questions Posed by
Communitarians
• Must autonomy and equality be the only versions of
the Good?
• Can we really construct our authentic selves by
inward reflection ('I think therefore I am' or Sartre's
café existentialism) or are not we not in some way
the product of our upbringing and social
interactions?
• Is western liberalism really a universal creed that all
cultures should come to adopt?
Multiculturalism
• Liberalism, Community and
Culture (1989), followed by a
number of works in 1990s
• Taylor's Multiculturalism and
the Politics of Recognition
(1994)
• Inspired partly by
'multicultural' movement of
minorities for 'recognition' vis a
vis majority culture in Canada
• Canadian multiculturalism
policy dates from 1971, similar
demands in US since late 60s
Liberal Nationalism
•Abstract state of Rawls
•Jurgen Habermas suggests a
'constitutional patriotism'
•Viroli argues for a more romantic
republican 'patriotism' based on state
institutions
•Yael Tamir (1993) and David Miller
(1995) argue that this is too 'thin' to be
meaningful
•Liberal Nationalism is fair, feasible,
desirable
Liberal Nationalism
• Need solidarity for welfare state, democracy,
equality to function
• Strike a balance between minority recognition
and the nation
• “Civic nationalism” is the best compromise
• Cul de sac of multiculturalism vs. national
integration
National Identity and
Multiculturalism:
breaking the deadlock
• In most western societies, issues around
immigrant incorporation are symbolic rather
than material or political
• Official discourse
• School curriculum
• Very little power/money allocated to ethnic
group bodies
Complexity Theory and the Nation
• Complexity from simplicity: higher level
coordination emerges from uncoordinated
lower-level actions. Self-organising.
Emergence
• ‘Wisdom of crowds’: knowledge is distributed
among individuals rather than centralised in
the state
• Examples: market, forest, city
1.Emergence
Classic v Complex Diffusion
• ‘State’ – top down
diffusion. Gradual, out
from centre to
peripheries and down
social scale
• ‘Market’ – bottom-up.
Peer-to-peer
emergence. Erratic,
subject to tipping points
and ideas can go ‘viral’
Bottom-up processes of nationalism
• ‘Everyday nationalism’ (Deloye, Edensor, Fox,
etc)
• Popular nationalism (Sidel on Philippines;
Kammen/O’Leary on USA)
• Local nationalism: ‘Heimat’ version of nation
(Confino, Applegate, Zimmer, Leersen 2014)
The Wisdom of Crowds
Poll of Polls?
Multiple Perspectives on the Nation
• Zones of conflict (Hutchinson 2005)
• Lenses of nationhood (Kaufmann 2008)
• Multivocality (Turner 1967; Eriksen 2014)
Multivocal, not multicultural
Multicultural, with
white peripheries
English ethnic nation,
multicultural cities,
Celtic periphery
Multivocalism/Multi-Nationalism
• Current vogue for integrationist civic
nationalism alienates multiculturalists and
ethno-nationalists
• Why not establish a common minimum
(mutual respect, equality) and fill in the
blanks?
• Wide range of lenses on the nation tolerated
and validated
• Tailor-made nationalism, multivocal symbols
Constructive Ambiguity
• Wording is ambiguous
• Sold differently to each
side
• Leaders allow each side to
believe the deal favours
them
• No problem if ethnic
Englishman identifies with
Britain through her
ethnicity
Examples
• Decentralised Social movements (ie Muslim
Brotherhood – Wickham 2002)
• ‘franchise’ model of political parties (Carty
2002)
• Should not be extended into realms of hard
power and expenditure (ie ‘Big Society’, devomax, ‘multi-speed Europe’)
• Power/money remain zero-sum; symbols
more flexible for positive sum solutions